AP FACT CHECK: Trump imagines 6 percent growth

JOSH BOAKDecember 6, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is holding out the prospect of 6 percent growth of the U.S. economy. An AP Fact Check finds that to be a fanciful hope.

Most mainstream economists think the country will be lucky to achieve consistent annual growth much over 2 percent. There are no signs the economy is capable of delivering a phenomenal and rarely achieved growth rate on the order of 6 percent.

The economy last cleared that hurdle in 1984, when growth hit 7.3 percent. But that was a fleeting performance and a much different time.

The workforce was flush with baby boomers in their prime working ages; now they’re starting to retire.

And the Fed boosted growth by steadily slashing a key interest rate from its 1981 peak of 20 percent.